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11-Pound Model Plane Vs. The Atlantic, Again
Luap Nanreffeh writes "Last year, (/. Story 1, /. story 2) Maynard Hill and some retired NASA buddies tried to set a record for flying a model aeroplane across the atlantic ocean (from Newfoundland to Ireland). Their plan, using GPS, onboard controllers, and a gallon of gas, would have been the first to cross the Atlantic under FAI rules. They didn't have much luck last year, but now they're at it again. The first launch should be tonight."
All in all, I was much more impressed by the Balloon 1.0 project, even though an unpowered balloon isn't half as cool as a powered and automatically guided RC aircraft travelling such a huge distance unaided.
Does anyone have any good links for other projects in a similar vein which aren't so coy about the gory technical details?
I realize you are trying to be funny, but your attitude about animal cruelty just promotes violence against non-human species like hamsters and all other animals.
I believe that we as humans do not have the right to slaughter and test products on animals. I believe that we as humans should not have the right to own animals. Forgot about tradition and how our ancestors survived. This is 2003 -- it's time to suspend your traditional beliefs, and surrender to your innate moral centre.
Animal cruelty is a serious issue, and should not be something that we as an advanced society joke about.
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
The Japanese did try something similar in World War II. They tried using paper balloons to carry incendiary bombs across the Pacific using the jet stream. Crazy idea, but a few bombs did get through.
They launched 3 last year, and are launching 4 this year. It would be really stupid to launch them an hour apart -- oops, one storm just took out all of your planes at once.
Bitchslapped. Neat.
weather in newfoundland is extremely unpredictable, thus the choice of set date i imagine.
:)
newfoundland also has the fame of being the birthplace of wireless communication, as the worlds first wireless transmission across the atlantic was recieved on signal hill back in 1901, so maybe that was another reason as well.
hmm, guess my newfoundland pride is showing
You thought wrong.
Doing it so it falls under the FAI rules is definitely non-trivial. In this case the model is defined by FAI limits of 5Kg with a span of 2M and a length of 2M, the engine is limited to 10cc (OS 60 4s).
Matthew
In my Oxford dictionary, it says;
Airplane US:Aeroplane
being from london, I would say most people say airplane and its pretty interchangeable without anyone moaning.
Paul.
Based on the first two responses to this post, you'd think people had never heard of inertial navigation. With MEMS accelerometers it ought to be pretty light, too.
Trying to integrate the output of an inertial sensor twice to get position IS dead reckoning. For very short travel times, it would work fine - but for very long flights, the integrated noise from the sensor output would give you enormous accumated position and velocity errors.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
Heh.. I read somewhere that the deaths noted in that link are the only people killed on the U.S. mainland by a Japanese attack.
From the site I learned that before the flight waypoints are uploaded to the GPS guidance system, and there is telemetry send while it is flying, but they basically said it will fly itself once in the air.
Here's a company that sells all equipment necessary to autonomously fly a model plane. Obviously you can define several GPS coordinates, and the plane will go pass them all.
http://www.micropilot.com/
Here's an open-source effort to autonomously fly a helicopter. Heli's are more difficult to manouver than planes.
http://autopilot.sourceforge.net/
The island itself is Newfoundland. Saying "Newfoundland and Labrador" suggests they're launching from both the rock and the mainland, and that's about as silly as most Newfie jokes I've heard recently.
Umm, no. Glocks are about 80% metal by weight, IIRC. They have always been easily seen by xrays. It's not like someone has invented composite ammunition, magazines, and barrels.
Karma: Meh (Mostly from meh.)
From the web site's FAQ:
What are the FAI rules for an aeromodel?
To qualify as an aeromodel under the rules for F3A, the plane must not exceed 5 kg (11 pounds), including fuel. The engine displacement may not exceed 10 cubic centimeters (0.61 cubic inches). There are also limits on the wing area and wing loading.